Flashback Friday: When I Interviewed Kenyan Band Sauti Sol

Just recently, Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol was in New York for the Global Citizen Festival. They shared the same stage with big names in the global entertainment scene; Beyonce, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. They are championing the need to facilitate education for the future generation through their Soma Soma Initiative.

In New York, they met with Jay Z, Usher and Richard Branson. That’s something huge! This happened just after they made global headlines for having danced with U.S. President Obama and out President Uhuru Kenyatta when he came to Kenya for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in July 2015.

As a band, these guys have come from far. I mean, they were just any other regular band 5 years ago. Look at them now! They are on Coke Studio Africa,are number one in BBC Radio 1’s #DNATop5 playlist (at the time of this publication) and are getting more and more award nominations. They are currently shining with their most recent releases, “Shake Yo Bam Bam” and “Isabella.”

I am so humbled to have interviewed them. Last year, they won at the MTV EMA Awards; the Best African Act. The band was nominated for the 2015 BET Awards; Best International Act: Africa. To celebrate their achievements, here is a retro-interview I did with them just after they danced with President Obama.

By the way, they were the only Kenyan band that entertained President Barack Obama when he visited Kenya for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at State House. They got him dancing to the Lipala rhythm.

Some of the top brands that took up their amazing story included E! Online, Vanity Fair, People, BBC World News, Jezebel, CBS News, Mirror UK, Sky News among others. You can watch the whole interview on the Mpasho News website.